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View all search resultsPlaying with fire
Prabowo's audience at home does not fully agree with him. They are deeply pessimistic about the council created by Trump.
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President Prabowo Subianto (right) shakes hands with United States President Donald Trump on Jan. 22 at the Board of Peace launch event during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. (AFP/Fabrice Coffrini)
A
s the democratically elected leader of Indonesia, President Prabowo Subianto made a final and binding foreign policy decision last week: to join the United States President Donald Trump-initiated Gaza Peace Council. The President decided to join the exclusive club because he is sure it is the most realistic path to achieve an independent Palestine that lives peacefully with Israel as a neighbor.
President Prabowo is very right to abandon Indonesia's classical foreign policy, which had been practiced for decades: Tirelessly demanding that Israel should unconditionally allow the Palestinians to become an independent nation without recognizing Israel as a sovereign nation. We had also insisted that Indonesia will only recognize Israel after the realization of the state of Palestine.
For the President, such a rigid position will not change anything and may even make it impossible to take on a larger international role in the Middle East. There should be a significant breakthrough by acting more flexibly, including recognizing that Indonesia will not get anything from its decades-long rigid demands.
However, we have a moral obligation to remind the President that the public may perceive him to be playing with fire, because Trump has practically absolute power on the council, and his strong motive is to sideline the United Nations Security Council and to protect the interests of Israel at any cost.
Trump acts as if he has total authority worldwide, and is now often a source of global laughter. But it is also a reality that Trump is still the most powerful person in the world, even as US might is eroding. It is very clear that Prabowo feels he has some chemistry with the US leader and that he could gain significant benefits for Indonesia by building a strong personal bond with Trump.
That is why the public wants to know more about Prabowo's plan. A persuasive and effective public diplomacy is much needed here. But it can only happen when bureaucrats at the Foreign Ministry are completely convinced of the President's new foreign policy direction.
"I think this is a historical moment. This is truly an opportunity to establish peace in Gaza," the President said after the signing ceremony in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.
